Bernhard Lehner
I've always been interested in and fascinated by sticks and weapons, which
are, so to say, the natural jewellery of small and big boys.

Maybe growing
up in the rural Bavarian countryside is a root for this lasting
obsession. Yet as an adult and artist, my aim is to transform this
boyish/primitive jewellery in art and
thereby real jewellery by deconstructing the original object.

I've bought
Colts, Shotguns and even a Kalashnikov, sawn them in parts and made bracelets of them. It's a form of symbolic
disarmament by preserving the
jewellery status. Somehow the destructive energy of the weapon lasts in
positive form in my work.

I don't see myself as an jewellery artist but as an artist whose work is to be seen (and worn) in close connection to the human body. To hell
with art on walls. From the sticks to the jewellery to the furniture, it's always art to be touched, held and worn (and be seen on somebody’s body.)

Modern artists all had their trade mark outfits: Beuys' hat and vest, Warhol’s wig, Tom Wolfe’s white suits. But their
work was something different - not the personal style, not the fashion.
For me, my style, my jewellery, my sticks and
my furniture is not separated from my art: It's my art, and so these
categories merge.